Do It For The Culture - Spragga Benz-led outfit crowned Red Bull Culture Clash champions

One team brought a slew of guest artistes, another brought their own cheering squad, another drew on the expertise of a seasoned clash selector, but in the end it was the team that did it for the culture that left the National Arena as Red Bull Culture Clash champions on Saturday night.

They may not have been pre-competition favourites, but Do It For The Culture, with their exclusive dubplates locked and loaded, reigned supreme at the end of a musical battle royale in the arena. The team marshalled by Jack Scorpio, a sound clash King in his own right, and comprised DJ Bambino, Spragga Benz, Disco Neil, Jah Snow Cone, and Salaam Remy.

Declaring from very early out that they were in it for the culture and not for the hype, the team clearly did their research. Showing off their versatility, the crew brought out members of the National Youth Orchestra. The crowd erupted into loud cheers as the young music professionals put on a brief opera special.

Then as if that weren’t special enough, Do it for the Culture again staked their claim to the title by giving the crowd some old school dance hall vibes. When other teams drew on the popular deejays or some artiste from the ‘now generation’, Do it for the Culture went vintage bringing out 90s hitmakers; Frisco Kid and Terror Fabulous as their special guests.

The two veteran entertainers brought them on a trip down memory lane remixing favourites such as Gyal Pan the Side and Gangsta.

Bring authenticity

Following the win, Jack Scorpio told THE STAR that with the culture clash being in Jamaica for the first time, it was only right his crew bring authenticity.

“When yuh listen over the tape, you will hear that this is not nothing normal. That little part with those two deejays was my favourite part of the dance. That was something unbelievable. When I see Terror Fabulous … Everybody like dem write off me yute and me yute come deliver, it was more than a joy. I feel so proud,” Jack Scorpio said.

Agreeing with Scorpio, Salaam Remy said it was important that their team give back a strength to their brothers not often catapulted into the spotlight.

“The expectation was that we were gonna fly in this person from here, but at the end of the day, when I looked at it, there are so many parts of the culture, so many stars walking around on the island who sing songs that the whole world knows, but nobody ever sees them,” he said.

“I thought it was important to use Red Bull’s hands to go back and give back a strength to my brothers.”

Do it for the Culture won two of the three scored rounds and led the completion by two points going into the final round. They were, however, caught by the Govana-led Strike Force, which took the fourth and highest scoring round.

Both teams were then tied on two points each and a sudden death round was needed to decide the winner.

Strike Force committed a fatal mistake by playing Louie Culture song, which was already played in a prior round. The rules of the competition states that if a song is played before, it cannot be repeated by any other team, save it be an specially edited version.

The other teams in the competition were Romeich Entertainment, led by Romeich, Dong Dong and Teejay; and Riddimstream Platta, which was led by King Bubba.